Introduction

Welcome to CS40: Computer Graphics. This course focuses on the creation and manipulation of 3D geometric models and the rendering of these models on a two dimensional screen. We will examine modeling from both a pixel-based view and a more geometric vector-based approach. Core topics include geometric primitives, 2D and 3D matrix transformations, projective geometry, and object modelling. We'll examine the traditional rendering pipeline and will explore advanced techniques for scene manipulation using programmable shaders. Intermediate topics include texture mapping, lighting, and shadows. We will be using the modern OpenGL programming approach which uses programmable vertex and fragment shaders throughout the course. Advanced topics may including grammar based models, isosurface extraction, and GPGPU computing using CUDA.